Arnadjanai
The Arnadjanai are a race of humanoids who originated from the distant planets of Wosono and Laduran. Characteristics Physical Most Arnadjanai are peach-skinned (or tan in hot lands), with blue eyes and blond hair, and muscular bodies that would make them look like athletes. Their bodies tend to be tougher, stronger, and a little heavier than those of ordinary humans, although this also means that they can be clumsier. Their brains are a little bigger and heavier than those of humans, allowing them to learn faster. However, their minds are more easily traumatised. They can see better than humans in far distances or in darkness, but humans can beat them in reading smaller and nearer texts. Female adult Arnadjanai may also tend to be more fertile than humans, usually bearing two or three children. Arnadjanai live slightly longer lifespans than their Epadwaranai and human counterparts. They remain young adults up to around the age of sixty, and after that they start to become more elderly. Feral Arnadjanai Without proper care and nutrition during the first three years from birth, any Arnadjanai will rapidly age to adulthood in a timespan from one year to as fast as four days, with less intelligence and more aggression, and then they live as adults for around forty years. They also understand up to some basic conversations from the language of one of their parents and some combat, stored in their DNA: this ability also helped normal Arnadjanai learn faster. Such Arnadjanai are considered to be "feral", and they have a reddish tone in their skin. Any offspring from ferals live and develop as though they were born from normal Arnadjanai parents. Psychological Arnadjanai are more prone to aggression, irritation, and anger. When angered enough, any Arnadjan would enter into a frenzied state of violent rage that lasts for a few minutes. Males can be more easily-angered than females, although female Arnadjanai would also attack with much cruelty when provoked. Arnadjanai have stronger and more aggressive sexual drives than humans: their attraction towards the opposite gender led to a concept of duality in their traditional culture. While they lack such thoughts in their early puberty, as soon as they reach 18 biological years of age (physical maturity), both males and females will desire to copulate with same-aged people of the opposite gender. They also seem to be fond of exposing their skin, especially to cool themselves in a hot climate: hence their love of wrestling, saunas (for women), and lovemaking. However, these strong urges of fighting and sex can be controlled with a lot of training, especially from a young age. Without such training and socialisation, male and female Arnadjanai may become notoriously promiscuous, as their poor minds being filled with strong urges to copulate with as many young adults as they could find. Their sexual urges decline when they become middle-aged. History Ladura and prior On the planet of Wosono, the Arnadjanai were descendants of several tribes and races of Wosonoi that migrated to an easterly continent. After millennia of savage warmongering, reckless violence, metallurgy, rampant multiplication, assimilation into the occasional Epadwaranai lord, and pervasive sex; they learned to fly and build spacefaring vessels by stealing ships in search of new lands and more resources to plunder, and to take vengeance against their creators. The Arnadjanai of Laduran developed into three races: the Naumakānir ("ship-folk"), the Lūvundarai ("horse-tribes"), and the Parapaxai. The Naumakānir follow the esoteric Transcendent religion; the Lūvundarai practice a nomadic lifestyle under the leadership of hundreds of patriarchal and matriarchal clans; and the Parapaxai follow a militaristic, sedentary lifestyle. The Naumakānir and the Parapaxai had modified themselves to become more organised and stable, and less promiscuous, and only in later times did the Lūvundarai adopt similar modifications as they became more intelligent. The Naumakānir took over the whole planet and built their own space empire; but in the process of "perfecting" themselves for their god, they became so sterile and weak that they had to clone themselves in order to reproduce. This opened their civilisation to attacks from the Lūvundarai and Parapaxai, who revolted and defeated the poor defenses of their Naumakānir overlords, and enslaved any that they did not kill in their bloodlust. As the Lūvundarai outnumbered the other two races in Laduran, their clans split up and tore the planet into centuries of scattered rule by tribal clans and hordes. Many tribes also committed gruesome ceremonies where victims were either mutilated, killed, burned alive, or buried alive as offerings to their gods. When their planet was invaded by another galactic empire, many Lūvundarai fled to other planets, including Jerde where they raided and plundered as many nearby settlements as they found. To stop their further attacks, the other civilisations enslaved the Lūvundarai, with several clans and runaways forming their own pirate kingdoms at the southwestern coast of Randros. These pirate kingdoms became more civilised as they learned from other cultures, until they were also enslaved by the Thralondian Empire. This caused many Arnadjanai to scatter into other countries, who either welcomed them as useful assets against the Thralondian invaders or kept them as slaves and beasts. Culture Most Arnadjanai were descendants of the nomadic Lūvundarai ("Horse-tribes") race from the planet Wosono, so many of their traditions involve wearing (mostly-red) woolen robes, riding and tending herds of horses, archery, saunas (which are enjoyed especially by their women), fighting, sports, and burying their honoured dead in sacred mounds known as "kurgans". While they used to stay around the towns of their clans, modern Arnadjanai are permitted to live anywhere as they wish, provided that they are able to return to meet their families at least once or twice a year for their honour. Arnadjanai cuisine mostly involves meat from deer and other ungulates, accompanied by herbs and fruit. They also distill milk and grape wine. While ancient Arnadjanai traded using tokens carved from animals' bones, their descendants use metallic coins and paper notes like their compatriots. All Arnadjanai are urged by their cultural traditions to be warriors from childhood, as that helped their ancestors avoid being enslaved, sacrificed in murderous rituals, or killed by rival tribes; although in many modern societies this custom has become more relaxed as social mobility and modernisation have led to a greater variety of available occupations. It is not just men and boys who were to be warriors, but also women and girls as well to ensure that the whole tribe will be able to fend off and fight their enemies -- hence myths by other peoples about dim-witted, golden-haired maidens who ride to pillage and plunder (and get as much cosmetics and men as possible). In fact, one ancient tradition no longer practiced required women to bring the heads of three slain enemies in order to be married: it is continued in some Arnadjanai communities in the form of using wind chimes. On the other hand, it had also led to widespread cases of bullying against both females and males alike to humiliate supposed "weaklings" and force them to become warriors. The Arnadjanai dread lunar eclipses, or anything that looks like a red moon. In such times, some Arnadjanai begin copulating as a form of stress relief, while others simply stay away from moonlight. Any exposure to the light of a lunar eclipse can drive them into a frenzied panic. Gender Aside from a need for survival or a hunger for power and adventure, their warrior customs were also shaped by their traditional gender roles, which divide their people into a duality of categories of males ("the protectors") and females ("the caretakers"). How much power, rights, and responsibilities the respective genders have vary between the traditions of each clan. The majority of Arnadjanai clans allow both males and females to have equal rights and responsibilities, but their decisions usually favour males as they are considered to be "stronger" and "more stable". A few other clans subject their females to be subservient to their males, and a bigger portion of those other clans (known locally as "Mazanarai" and by others as "amazons") make their females dominant. Modernisation Most Arnadjanai today have become so assimilated into the cultures of their countries, that many of them do not practice their culture or speak their native language. The Bherusai of western Randros are more like the Pelarinoi of the north, worshipping the sun and valuing literature; the Arnadjanai who live on the tropical highlands west of Vozolaz live either as hardy mountain folk or pampered urban socialites like their brethren at Turodaron further south; those of southern Kitasa work in research stations or eke a living by catching seafood; and those of Bujan and Irajon mostly live as classy city folk who get conscripted, with a minority working as farmers and fisherfolk. Of all of these communities, the seafaring Arnadjanai of Jenomboro (from a word in their language that means "nine mountains") have retained most of their native culture. Nowadays, as the Arnadjanai adapt into the modernised settings of their societies; even though sexism and the ensuing bullying is still a lingering problem in many of their communities, the influence of those varying gender roles have been loosened or displaced by local customs. For instance, in Bujan, most male Arnadjanai emulate any male subculture they stumble upon, ranging from military brats to formal gentlemen and scientists or street urchins; and a growing number of girls and women prefer the way of the proper lady over the path of the warrior. Furthermore, many Bujanski Arnadjanai are not as promiscuous as their ancestors. When they were under Wannaenid oppression, their sadistic masters forced them to breed and live without clothing under the gazes of cameras. They modified the Arnadjanai's DNA and brains to torment themselves whenever they acted on their sexual urges. However, some saboteurs instead used the remnants of the Human Sanctification Project on their Arnadjanai prisoners. While the HSP made Arnadjanai minds less traumatised by lovemaking, it also made them less likely to engage in sexual activity. The saboteurs' modifications also made them more intelligent, more reasonable, and more likely to adorn themselves with clothes, helping them occasionally outwit and escape their tormentors. Due to these, many Arnadjanai avoid casual sex and pornography, associating them with the cruelties of Wannaenid rule when they were treated like animals. Therefore, they emulated and assimilated themselves into Bujanski society, hoping that the wider populace would treat them with the respect that they needed. In return for helping the revolutionaries defeat and expel the Wannaenid rulers from Bujan, the Arnadjanai who chose to remain in Bujan are now regarded as one of Bujan's main populations. Their cultures are treated as protected minorities, and the city of Nasarpollo (which has an Arnadjanai majority) was given autonomy as a constituent "republic", at the same level as the native dukes. Trivia * The Arnadjanai were inspired by Nordic aliens; barbarians; Amazons; cavemen; and Orcs in fantasy works; and Scythian tribes (as the author linked "Nordic" with "Aryan", and then "Iranian"). * Whenever an Arnadjanai marries and produces a child with a human or an Epadwaranai, the resulting child is usually an Arnadjanai. See also * Epadwaranai, their more civilised cousins ** Heronoi * Imdegabat * Ontemazei * Paxoti, an example of an Arnadjan from 1950s/2750s Bujan Category:Sentients Category:Near-humans